Current-collector contrivance



K. JACQUEL- CURRENT COLLECTOR CONTRIVANCE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2, I921. 132 ,33, Patented Aug. 22,1922.

fig. INVENTOR KARL J'AcQ -T entree KARL JACQUET, or zunicu, swimmer/menTO 'aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KARL JAo U' 'r, citizen of Switzerland, residing atZurich, Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin a Current-Collector Cont-rivance, of which the following is aspecification.

' invention relates generally to overhead current collectors forelectrically prop'ell'ed railway cars and has reference moreparticularly to a type of current collector which is adjustable tooperate with a 'trolley wire disposed over the "center line between vthe rails or to contact with a trolley wire sets of rails and at theside of the car.

The object of the invention istopro'vide an apparatus of this characterwhich is Areliable in operation and applicable to any car operating fromthe Overhead trolley system.

The invention consists in the-nO el-fea- 'tu'r'es of construction,combinations andarrangenients of parts fully described in the followingspecification and clearly set forth in the appended claims. a I I Theinvention is illustratively exemplified in the accompanying drawing, inwhich z 1 Fig. 1 is affront elevational view of a por "tion of a carshowing the current collector in position to operate with a trolley wirelocated over the center of the car and in "dotted lines the collector isshown in position'to receive current from a trolley wire disposedatftheside of the center of the car.

Fig. 2 "is a side eleva'tio'nal view 'of the parts shown in F igure 1,with parts broken away to show interior construction, and in dottedlines the'collector is shown .in ad ated from a single wire suspended"between thet'wo "sets of rails and especially when the two cars are inthe position of pessing 'ea'ch other. I i I 1 Fi'g.i5 is a diagrammaticview, shown in plan, of the collecting bows, in the positions I "shownin Figure 4.

Referring to 11" drawing, 1 de n'ot'es a fixed ted .plat'e supported onsuitable 'w'o'o'den sleepers 2 which are secured'to the -table 3 to anydesiredpoSition'. suspended "over acenter line between "two":

"opposite ends to the frame i CURRENT-COLLECTORCONTRIVANCE;

Specification offjette rsPatent. Aug ZZQ i I I Application fil'ed May 2,1921. Seria1N0.466 ,374

roof ofacarr The bed plate- 1 is a hollow I annular member having anupstanding "central I hub, whichlprojec'ts to a level substgm tially ona plane 'Withthej jedge ofthe-out'e'r 1 'wall, and which p'royides ahearing about which is loosely mounted, a 'turiitali1e 3. The

' tu rnt abIe 3 comprises a'iicirciilarI disc of rf'a slightly greaterdiameter ithau'th at of the bed pla't'e 'land depending pulley 4 1pm-The upper face of the turntable 3 is provided withbearinglugsfdisposed'at' oppo- 7 site sides" of thecen'ter of the'fturntable toI pivotally support the flower ends or a time '5, 'which consists of twbparallel members suitably braced by "cross '(piecs fp'rojecting between"the two members, The upper ends of the two 'paral'lel ihernbers arebent outwardlyandin oppdsi tefdirefotions toiecei've I a I I the loweredge of the current collector bow 8 Inorder tovieldably'supporttheframe;

in its upright pesitiqu, as shown iii-Figure 2, "a pa r of spr ngs 6 areconnected at their" forward endstoja stop plate '7v and at their tionshown in F igure 1. fiThe normal fposi- Th right h "nd lo we'r edge ofthe' cu'rrent f'cjllectorfbow-fi is pivotally connected -tothe, I forkedend of the frame 5, as"showi1 inFigu're 1, and is. provided. withfa pairfof pulleys T9; rojecting-f om opposite {si'cles of 'the v rmme, Thepulleys' S) are movablewith the fbow 8 about the aXi s 'ofits pis' otfsothat 'ro- "ta r movement of the pulleys-"will; tend to raise I thecollector bow 8 'to the "dotted ffpo'si'- justedpos'ition to accommodatea low hang;

tion offthe how. 8 is in a'horiz oritalf plane;- i

but in order to raisefitfabout the g ivot and then to hold this positioI .jprovideftwo lcableSilO, the l0wer [efnd's 'o 'f'w hieh are 'at-""tached'to{suiteble springs: lll cairried {by the I v 'tii'rntablewii,and the ,upp'enends bf which I dj-a'bo'ut and attached to the pul Y i''1eys', 9. With this construction it will be noted thatjthefnormaljtenden'c'y of. these tspring's 11 will bejto unwindth'ecables 10 "raising the bowie to a werjt icel'pditibn. The

bow I8 is held 'normalgp'osition, -i.: e vihoriis controlled by ahandwheel 16 carried by operator.

the lower end of the hollow shaft projecting into the car and withinreach of the Rotary movement of the turntable 3 is effected by a cable17, received at one end about the pulley t and the other end beingprojected forward and about a pulley 18; the latter being mounted on ashaft operating in the hollow shaft and pro jecting below the hand wheel16 to receive a hand wheel 19. In order that the cable 12 may not becometwisted during rotary movement of the turntable 3, the portion of thecable between the pulleys 13 and 14: is

provided with a swivel 20, which will permit the upper section of thecable to rotate freely, while the lower portion will not turn. With theusual types of cars only one collector is provided, in which case theturn tables must be capable of 180, movement about their axes so thatthe cars may be operated in either direction.

The overhead trolley systemv comprises the usual pole line wire asupported below a cable 5 by means of depending guy wires 0 and theentire system may be disposed either above the center of the car or atthe side of the car between the two sets ofrails. It has even been foundnecessary to run part of the system over the center line of the railswhile other sections ofthe line may be arranged at the side of the carsin which case the collector will operate automatically and constantlyremain in contact with the pole line wire a.

Referring to Figure 2, it will be noted that the current collector how 8is bent at its upper end tosubstantially right angles and with a gentlecurve between the vertical and horizontal portions of the bow.

The two arms of the bow, at the points of the curve between the verticaland horizontal portions, are joined to the opposite ends 'of a bridgepiece 22, which is brought into use when the frame 5 has been depressed,to the dotted position shown in Figure 2, so that the current from thepole line wire a may continue to flow to the current collector bow 8through the bridge piece 22. In places where it is necessary to run thepole line wire a at a very low level, as through tunnels or underbridges, the wire is usually hung over the center line between therails, so thatit would not benecessary to operate the bow 8 in itsvertical position.

ved towards the rear of the car.

operator will first turn the hand wheel 16- Therefore, in order that thebow 8 may not swing about its pivot under tension of the spring 11,during the period described above, T have provided an automaticallyoperated locking); device which is intended to engage the free end ofthe how when the latter is arranged at an angle with the frame 5, andwhich will hold the how 8 against possible arcuate movement except whenthe latter is in horizontal position. The lock consists of apin Aprojecting into a guide slot B in the wall of the member 7, and aslidable rod C arranged substantially parallelto and extending to theupper end of the frame 5. The upper end of the rod C is pivotallyconnected to an arm of a hook D, which is pivoted at its central portionto the edge of the frame 5, and which is adapted to engage over a keeperE carried by the car has reached the end of the line and there is nomeans for turning the car around, it is necessary to reverse the currentcollector how 8, i. c. with the free end of the horizontal portion ofthe bow direct- The until the cable 12 has drawn the bow 8 downwardlyagainst the frame 5, the hand wheel 19 will then be rotated until thebelt 17 has moved the pulley 4 and turntable 3 a distance of 180(degrees) and theframe is then supporting the how 8 to operate againstthe pole line wire a in the opposite direction. The hand wheel 16 maythen be released and the pressure of the bow 8 brought to bear againstthe pole 'linewire. lit will be noted thatwith the bow 8 exerting aconstant pressure against the pole line wire a, the latter maybe eitherover the center line between the rails or at the side car, and the how 8will follow the line anywhere within the radius of its possiblemovement.

Where this type of collector is used with.

be such that when one car passes another car the two opposing bows willnot contact with each other in passing. made possible by the manner in.which each bow 8 is pivoted, so that if the wire a is pressed either toone side or the other of a center li-ne'between the two sets of rails,the bows will move about their pivots 1 a distance relative to thedistance the wire a is away from the axes of the pivots, in which casewith two bows in the position to pass each other and the wire slightlyoff center the bows will remain parallel to each other at the point ofpassing, With the bows 8 This operation is held parallel to each other.the space between them will always be equal to the gauge of the poleline wire itself.

In the operation of the locking device any downward arcuate movementofthe frame 5 and rod 0 will cause the pin A to travel upward in thecurved slot B to rock the hook D over the keeper E. Whenthe pole linewire a again assumes its normal height the frame 5 and red C will moveto an upright position and the hook D will be withdrawn from the keeperE.

It may be desirable under certain condi tions to equip a single car withtwo current collectors. as shown in Figure 3, and in doing this it issuggested that the bows pivot on opposite sides ofthe car, so that thepole line wire may be arranged from the center line between the rails toeither side of the rails and still be within reach of one of the bows 8.

I claim 1. In a current collector for electricallyoperated railway cars,the combination with a yieldably supported upright frame, of a contactmember carried by and pivoted at one end thereof to said frame,operating means between the pivotal connection of the contact member anda fixed point in said collector to move the former relatively to saidframe and against a pole line wire, and means for rotating said frame toreverse the position of said contact member with respect to the poleline wire.

2 In a current collector for electrically operated railway cars, thecombination with a rotatable member mounted'on thereof of a car, apivotally mounted frame carried by said rotatable member and yieldablysupported in upright position, a contact member pivotally connected atone side thereof to the upright frame and adapted to move at an anglewith respect to the said frame, yieldable means connected between thepivotal conection of said contact member and the rotatable member tonormally tend to rotate the former about its pivot to an uprightposition, and means coacting with said rotatable member to revolve thelatter about its axis. Y

3. In a current collector for electrically operated railway cars, thecombination with a contact member comprising a bow shape piece providedwith anangular portion at its closed end adapted to engage with a poleline wire, of abridge piece connected at its opposite ends to theparallel arms of said bow, a frame pivotally supporting'said bow, I 7

spring actuated means cooperati'ng'with the pivotal support of the bowand tending to hold the latter in upright position, whereby theclosed'portion of said bow maybe constantly in contact with the poleline wire,"

and a control mechanism mounted in the car and connected with the bow tooperate the latter against the action of the spring-ad tuated means. a vp y 4. In a current collector for electrically operated railway cars,the combination with r a supporting frame pivotally mounted above theroof of a car, of a contact bow pivotedat one side to said frame, springactuated means engaged with said bow to yieldably support v the latterin upright position about its pivot, springs connected between the frameand pivotal mounting of the latter to yieldably hold the frame insubstantially upright position, and automatically operated locking meanscarried by'said-frame and adaptedto lock the free end of the bow to theframe when the latter is depressed arcuately about its pivot underpressure of a low hanging pole line wire.

5., In a current collector for electrically operated railway cars, thecombination with a pivotally supported frame yieldably held I in uprightposition, of a contact bow pivoted at one end to the frameand yieldablypressed upwards about the pivot to engage with a pole line wire withinthe possible path of movement of said bow, and means KARL JACQUET.

Witnesses:

OSCAR ZEIDER, ARNOLD WAEOHTER.

I hereunto aflix my I 951 during a depressed position of the latter will

